Portable lighting systems are generally known in the art. Commonplace examples include garden lights, Christmas tree lights, and the exemplary implementation to which the current invention is directed, temporary shelter lights, such as tent lights. Such shelters or tents may include military-style shelters that are portable, but adapted for extended use or personal tents used mainly for recreation purposes.
As the nature of these shelters or tents has their uses in areas where constant and uninterrupted power may be unreliable or prone to failure, there is a need in the art to provide emergency back-up power, at least on a temporary basis. Some solutions contemplated by the prior art have included providing a battery pack that can be connected to the lighting system when a direct power connection fails. However, battery packs are heavy and not always easily transportable. Furthermore, connecting the battery pack once power has failed may be problematic without another light source available, particularly within an enclosed shelter or after daylight hours.
Other prior art solutions to temporary and portable lighting problems tend to be expensive, difficult to transport, and sometimes unsuitable for military applications, as would be the case for typical battery back backup systems. In addition, the power level of battery backs have to be periodically monitored to ensure that sufficient power is left in the battery pack, making these systems not entirely failsafe.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved portable lighting system, and in particular one that incorporates emergency power capabilities.